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venerdì 14 marzo 2014

Govt reinstates distinctions between hard and soft drugs

Marijuana offenders to receive lighter sentences

(ANSA) -
Rome, March 14 - The cabinet on Friday approved a decree that reintroduces
illicit drug classifications outlining penalties according to which type of
narcotic is found in someone's possession. The measure follows a supreme Court
of Cassation decision last month that threw out as "illegitimate" a
2005 law that equated the possession of soft drugs to heavy drugs and was
blamed as a contributing factor to severe overcrowding in Italian prisons.

"The cabinet voted to bring back the classifications because a void had
been left following the Cassation's ruling," said Minister Beatrice
Lorenzin. Now the law distinguishes between hard and soft drugs, with lighter
sentences for substances such